Prototypes
A lot of what we learned for class this week involved prototypes. Different questions that were answered were: What is a prototype? How do you develop a prototype? What should be the minimum requirements for a prototype? Many of these questions were answered by use cases that highlighted the functionality of prototypes.
Coffee First Prototype
As a group, we were able to make our first steps for our coffee pour-over tool project. Finalizing our pour over assistant design, we decided to separate our products into two parts: a top funnel for the water to travel down, and a lower space holder for the coffee grinds.
The way we constructed the top funnel was compartmentalized into two slides. The top slide has several larger holes that makes water easily slide drop through. Right underneath this slide, there is another slide that consists of holes that are significantly smaller. With the addition of the two slide system, the user will be able to determine how fast water drips into the coffee, which determines the strength of the coffee.
An early problem we ran into was determining how our product would be a universal fit for all cup sizes. To avoid this problem, we made sure that our product would be easily editable by any one who would want to print it. Hence, the bottom part of our design, which has four different stands, are easily editable.
Another problem we needed to address was how the 3D printed material would react with boiling water. While we are still working on this issue with the helpers at the LabLab, it seems like this is an area where a lot of discussion takes place.
Planning Ahead
This week, my group plans on going into the FabLab and trying to print various prototypes that will address the boiling water problem. Need be, we will most likely order different printing material that is durable to hot water so that toxins are not leaked into the coffee.
If our slide system does not happen to work out the way we want, we will most likely try to come up with another system that allows users to control how fast water is seeped into the coffee grinds because we believe that is a foundational function of our desired product.
I really like your update with your progress on the project to date. The slide idea to control the drip speed of the coffee is a great idea. My mom’s coffee maker has a function similar where she can have it drip fast, medium or slow depending on how strong you want the coffee (faster drip, less strong). I will be interested to see what material you end up using for the final product to be able to handle the boiling water. This will be a great learning experience for your team to explore different materials and how different the functions may be while printing. Looking forward to seeing this develop even farther!
I like how you are going to keep the design editable so that different users can create it with different cup sizes but in your instructions on how to make your coffee pour over tool I would recommend that you include typical sizes for different commonly used cups so that it is even simpler for someone to make this for a cup that they want. As for your issue with heat, maybe adding thin sheets of metal in your design would help it withstand the heat of boiling water.